


Better Future, Underground

by V6ilill



Series: Legacy of a Lie [2]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Bigotry & Prejudice, Child Death, Child Murder, Child Neglect, Gen, Gender-Neutral Courier (Fallout), Grimdark, House-Aligned Courier, Institute-Aligned Sole Survivor, One Shot, Post-Game(s), Spoilers, Tragedy, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:27:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28073940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/V6ilill/pseuds/V6ilill
Summary: With the Sole Survivor's untimely passing, her children must fight the war she started - the war for the future of the Institute's untainted humans. Only they may claim the stars as their birthright.Note: companion piece/sequel to Play Pretend. Will not make sense without reading that.
Relationships: Female Sole Survivor/Male Sole Survivor, Original Character & Original Character, Original Male Character/Original Female Character
Series: Legacy of a Lie [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2056569
Comments: 3
Kudos: 1





	Better Future, Underground

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bubonic_Johnson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bubonic_Johnson/gifts).



> 'Till everything burns  
> While everyone screams  
> Burning their lies  
> Burning my dreams  
> \- Everything Burns, Ben Moody ft Anastacia

Nathanielle was seven when her mother died. It was like always when Mother had another baby and had to leave for a while - all of Nathanielle’s siblings said it was like this every time, just you wait, she’ll be back tomorrow - and then she never came again.

Instead, Nathanielle was called to meet her little sister - her last little sister. Her name was Natacha. The twins, Nathanael and Nathaniel (who were only a year older than Nathanielle, which was so unfair!) refused to see the baby. They wanted Mother.

There was no Mother.

There was the Director of the Institute, who was now Big Sister Nat. There was Dad, who was asleep as always. There was Big Brother, the progenitor of synths, who was always watching. But talking about him made Mother unhappy, so they didn’t. There were the teachers in school, and Nat’s private tutors who now taught everyone else too. But there was nobody who would hug Nathanielle and make her bad feelings go away.

Nathanielle didn’t think her new sister was interesting to look at, and her siblings thought that too. They left her alone for the synths to change her nappies and feed her from a bottle and rock her to sleep. Her crib stood in Mother’s old room all alone.

One day, Nates came to visit. Nathanielle went after him, because maybe the baby would do something interesting. Maybe he would do something interesting with the baby. Nates was the third oldest, he knew a lot more about babies than Nathanielle.

“You monster!” Nates shouted, waking baby Natacha “You dare sleep where she did?”

Natacha began crying.

“Shut up!” Nates screeched “Shut up! You should be dead! You should be dead and Mother alive!”

The nanny synth stepped closer, but Nates shoved her away.

“Shut up!” Nates took his baby sister and shook her, banging her head against the crib “Little shit! Little shit! I wish you died instead!”

And then he threw her to the floor. Natacha stopped crying. Nates kicked the crib onto the nanny and left, wiping away his own tears. Nathanielle watched as the synth picked up the baby and began rocking her, pacing around the room with empty eyes.

Soon after that, Natacha died. Mother’s room stood empty, until Big Sister Nat dragged her things there.

“You can’t do that!” said Natie “That was her room!”

“The underground is not spacious,” Nat retorted, sorting papers “We cannot afford to expand now. Mother spent our budget on Nathalie’s birthday party.”

All of Mother’s old things were pushed to the side so that Nat could receive visitors. Nathanielle couldn’t even look at the photo albums anymore. Everything felt so empty without Mother.

Nathanielle only had her Dad now. She could sit in his room whenever she wanted to and tell him stories. Of course, Dad couldn’t tell her any stories of his own, but Mother said he liked to listen.

Until Nat took him away.

“You killed him!” Natie screeched at her “You killed him, you bitch!”

“He died before I was born,” said Nat “We need every space we can get and every ounce of power we can put to good use. God, she just had to start that war . . .”

“We can’t let the unclean colonize the galaxy!” Nathan recoiled in horror “They’ll kill us all!”

“Ugh,” said Nat and ordered them all away.

Mother was there every day, but Nat never visited. She never visited, not when Nathalie demanded Mother in fits of crying, not when Natella punched and hit and scratched all her nannies, smiling like it was the most fun game in the world. Not when Nate went and danced naked in the main hall, not when the twins were berated by their teachers for skipping class. If Mother was there, she’d set everyone straight. The mutants from the surface too. She’d never let them take the stars that the Institute must one day rule. Not like Nat, who wanted to make peace.

“You can’t sign away humanity’s future to those degenerates!” Natie yelled “Their leader is a robot, his top enforcer barely human! Our species will end and be replaced by degenerate mutants!”

“We can’t afford it!” Nat yelled back “And you went and wasted money on that stupid engagement ring! That bitch you’re seeing can deal with something cheaper!”

Nathanielle gasped at the profanity. Mother never allowed them to call anyone that! As Natie and Nat began arguing louder and louder, the girl crept away. She wandered the sterile white halls and Mother never met her halfway to a door, smile wide and arms open. She wandered into the room where Dad had lived, but he wasn’t there for her to hear of her day. Big boxes of equipment cluttered the room, swarmed by scientists who shooed Nathanielle away. Didn’t they know who she was?! But they said they were sent by Nat and told her to leave. Stupid Nat with her stupid peace plans and stupid obsession with money and budget. They could always print more cash!

A week before Nat would negotiate with degenerate savages, she gathered them all and told the brothers and sisters they would all be attending. And then she started teling everyone how to behave and what to wear and how to look strong and united.

“You can’t let them win!” Natie screeched “They’ll kill us all!”

“Our space program will soon overtake theirs,” Nat retorted “Preliminary testing on Spectacle Island shows great results. There’s no need to waste resources on the surface-dwellers.”

“Mother would never let them get away with threatening us,” Nathan scowled.

At that, Nat lost her patience again and left for her office.

The night before the peace negotiations, Nat was dead and Natie was Director.

Nathanielle was the big sister now, but she felt so small and useless next to all her big brothers. Why couldn’t at least one of them be younger than her?

The war resumed. Natie said it was nothing to worry about. He’d crush all the mutants the way Nat had been to afraid for. The way Mother would have done. He told Nathanielle she would see the stars with her own eyes once she was grown and ruffled her hair. He told her they would name their first spaceship after Mother. Alice Miller, because Mother hated being called Nora, even if it was her middle name. Middle names were dumb. That’s why none of her children had middle names.

The synth infiltrators within the enemy domain went silent. Natie said it was nothing to worry about, not when he was getting married! It was a splendid wedding, with balloons and banners and a big cake. Nathanielle liked the cake. The party was great, even if Nates got drunk and rowdy and began screaming bad words at the important guests. Even when Natella tried to set the bride’s dress on fire, Nathan just took her lighter away and told her to play with her toys. The party was great, but everyone had better things to do than talk with Nathanielle. She was too little for that, even if she was a big sister thrice - twice - over, the biggest sister of the bunch!

The enemy factories went back online, increasing the robot army with every passing day. Natie said it was nothing to worry about, not when he would go on a wasteland safari with Nates and Nathan. The little ones weren’t invited, of course. That wasn’t fair! Nathanielle was almost eight - Mother would’ve allowed her for sure. But Mother was gone . . .

There were strange disturbances in the teleporter frequency, like someone was trying to hijack it. Natie said it was nothing to worry about, not when it was Nate’s birthday! The whole family were decked out in cleanroom suits, the ones for the youngsters specially made, and sent up to see the ruins of Boston for themselves. Nathan helped Nate beat up some molerats, Natie teached Nathanael how to throw grenades. The rest of them were watched over by synths, until Natella started poking them with a knife. It was very fun for her, but the synths got hurt. Nathanielle told her to stop, but the girl waved the knife in her direction and she shut up. It’s not that she was afraid of the knife - she wasn’t! - but it could break her suit and then all the horrible pathogens would make her impure . . . but Nates arrived on the scene before Nathanielle could be ruined forever and kicked Natella in the face. But it was fine, because the suit didn’t break. Nathanielle waited to see if Nates would shake Natella like he did the baby, but he didn’t.

The evil moustache man who lead the surface-dwellers broadcast an message right through the Institute’s main terminal network, offering to spare them in return for obedience and servitude. Natie said it was nothing to worry about, not when it was the best time to throw a party. A party for grownups, that was. Nathanielle couldn’t even look at the preparations. Only Natie’s cool adult friends could come. Nate threw a tantrum, but he was ordered to go back to the nursery.

The surface-dwellers came, pouring in through the teleporter. The scientists ran away, the synths ran towards the teleporter. Nathanielle watched through the nursery door as Natie stumbled down the hall, cask of beer in hand. She waved to him, hoping he’d stop and give her a hug like Mother sometimes did. He waved back, but didn’t stop for a second. Music blared from above, the sounds of people talking and laughing occasionally filtering through. Nathanielle wanted to step out, but her nanny ushered her back in.

“What’s gonna happen to us?” Nathaniel whispered.

“Big Brother is gonna save us, dummy!” Nathanael declared.

“But he’s partying down the hall,” Nate mumbled, still salty he wasn’t allowed in.

“He’s got a plan!” Nathanael retorted “The mutants will never win!”

Smoke billowed down the hall and the nannies rushed to close the door. The vent started making strange noises which scared Nathalie. She began crying, but a synth shushed her hurriedly, clamping a hand over her mouth. The nannies took out their pistols, glancing nervously at each other. The music turned to static and then stopped. The laughter turned to screams. Turned to silence. Turned to footsteps.

The door was dented, forced open by an armored fist. The synths drew their weapons, firing into the haze. Bullets quieted them, the nannies collapsing to the floor. Their wounds oozed blood and there were no wires in the holes. But Mother said they were robots . . .

A power-armored figure, a six drawn on their helmet stepped over the corpses. They holstered their rifle and retrieved a really big gun from their back. Nathanielle stepped back into the shadows, inching closer to her siblings. Nathalie sobbed in the dead arms of her babysitter, blood staining her fancy skirt red.

Courier Six raised the flamethrower and all was fire.


End file.
